The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has called on traditional rulers across the Niger Delta region to deepen their collaboration and support for the Commission to achieve lasting peace and sustainable development.
Speaking at the Annual Strategic Consultative Feedback Forum for Traditional Rulers in the Niger Delta Region, NDDC Managing Director, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, emphasized that the guidance and cooperation of traditional rulers are vital to the Commission’s development agenda.
Represented by the NDDC Executive Director, Corporate Governance, Hon. Ifedayo Abegunde, Ogbuku described the monarchs as “essential partners” in driving inclusive and people-centred development.
“You are our essential partners in the quest for sustainable development in the Niger Delta Region,” he said. “This forum enables us to gather feedback from traditional institutions, understand your communities’ needs, and identify priority areas for intervention. Through this partnership, we can ensure that development projects are community-driven and sustainable.”
Ogbuku stressed that traditional rulers remain the true voices of their people and play a crucial role in peacebuilding and conflict resolution. He urged them to strengthen local mechanisms for resolving disputes and to promote inclusive dialogue that involves men, women, and youth.
“The future of the Niger Delta depends on the peace of its communities. Development cannot thrive amid division. Let this forum renew our collective will to pursue peace, not as a temporary truce, but as a culture and way of life,” he added.
In his remarks, the National Chairman of the Traditional Rulers of Oil Mineral Producing Communities of Nigeria (TROMPCON) and Chairman of the Delta State Council of Traditional Rulers, King Felix Mujakperuo, represented by the Pere of Akugbene-Mein Kingdom, King Pere Luke Kalama, reiterated that peace remains a prerequisite for meaningful development. He advocated for the creation of conflict management committees made up of traditional rulers from neighbouring kingdoms to help mediate disputes.
Similarly, the Chairman of the South-South Monarchs Forum and the monarch of Emohua, King Sergeant Awuse, urged the NDDC to involve traditional rulers in the planning and execution of projects to ensure effectiveness.
Also speaking, the Amayanabo of Twon Brass, King Alfred Diette-Spiff, described peace as the foundation of development. He called for constitutional recognition of traditional rulers, likening their current exclusion to “students whose names are not in the register.”
King Diette-Spiff further urged that development in the Niger Delta be technically driven, adding that the region has the potential to become an industrial hub in areas such as marine services, construction, agriculture, and fisheries.
